Our first day of magic!

It is hard to believe but we returned home from Sheridan's Wish Trip to Disney World one year ago tonight!  I started the post below a year ago and never finished it.  A LOT has gone on in the past year but we are grateful everyday for everything good in our lives.  I thought it would be the perfect night to get started on sharing these pics...better late than never ;)


We had to start our trip off in the Magic Kingdom, so we spent all day there Saturday and it was magical! From the moment you enter the park and walk up main street towards the castle you know you are in a truely magical place. The looks we saw on Sheridan and Sam's faces as they met characters and went on rides were priceless!!! I cannot put into words how "awesome", as Sheridan would say, our trip was...but you can see it our pictures :)

Our first view of the castle that day...

It's a Small World is the same ride it was when Patrick and I were kids :)

Waiting in line for Dumbo...this was Sheridan's favorite ride!

 Just so excited!!!

 Riding the Liberty Belle Riverboat around Tom Sawyer Island in Frontier Land, also just as Patrick and I remembered it :)  It was a good chance to sit and take a break for a few minutes. 

 I had to post this pic because it is one of the kids favorites!  They still talk about the really big chicken wing daddy ate in Disney World!!!  It was delicious by the way :)

 And this was Sam's favorite ride in the Magic Kingdom!

 The afternoon parades that pop up are so fun!!!

 Waiting for the electrical parade to start that night...we got front row seats in Frontier Land after enjoying burgers for dinner, our favorite!

 My pics do not do the Electrical Parade justice, but here are a few anyways.  Pretty much everything in the parade is covered in lights!

 

After the parade we headed towards the front of the park to watch the fireworks (yes we were going to get every ounce of Magic Kingdom we could that day!)  Trying to move was a big mistake, but we did see some of the fireworks before the kids fell asleep and we headed back to our place for the night.  I don't have that many pics from our first day because we were all so caught up in every moment.  It was fantastic!!!

Why we walk...

 

The Light the Night Walk at Rockville Town Center is one month away!  This year Claudia asked me to send a pic of Sheridan and a quote about why we walk for the registration tent.  My quote is simple...We walk so that others can continue to see a smile like Sheridan's light up their lives.  And light up our lives Sheridan does!  She has changed our lives, changed who we are as people, changed how we react to and treat others, changed our relationships and she has changed all of these things for the better!  She has given us a perspective that I will be forever grateful for.  Writing down our "why" for Claudia made me realize that we have a long list of "whys"...

We walk...

...so that others can have the hope of cure like we do.

...so that research can continue to be funded.

...so that families in need of support and services receive what they need.

...to celebrate Sheridan and her survivor spirit.

...to stand together and support others fighting this fight.

...to spread awareness.

...to share in the experience.

...to pay it forward.

We could have never predicted the path that our lives would take when Sheridan was born.  Six years later she has survived incredible challenges and is an amazing, beautiful, happy little girl.  We have not made it to this point on our own and we believe that the only way to honor the support we received is to pay it forward whenever and however we can.

We want to invite you to join us this year if you can.  Looking out at an evening sky filled with glowing balloons as we start the walk is beautiful, inspiring and emotional.  We would love for you to be able to experience it with Sheridan and our family this year. 

Click the link at the top on the right if you would like to join our team or donate :) 

My sweet boy

Yesterday was Sam's 1st day of preschool and he was so excited!  We had gone last Thursday for an Open House to meet his teacher and he got his cute tote bag to take with him each day.  He is very proud to be in school like his older sister.  He absolutely loves it!!!  Check out some of the pics I took of him before he left...I cannot believe how big his is!!!

Oh the places you'll go...

We are SO proud of Sheridan as she starts Kindergarten this year! She has battled through more in the past six years than most do, certainly before Kindergarten. This is a big day! She is such an amazing little girl and we are so grateful that she is in our lives every day. Since today had me thinking about all that she has overcome to be walking into a kindergarten classroom, I thought I would put together a few pics from the last six years...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

She absolutely loves school and this year is no different. She was SO excited this morning...after she got on the bus Patrick and I headed over to school to meet her when she arrived. It was harder than we thought it would be to leave her at the door to her classroom, but she was so ready to go in and meet her new friends!

Wish Trip!

Many of you know that Sheridan was given an amazing wish trip to Disney World through the Make a Wish foundation. We left last Friday morning and got back tonight! It was the most incredible, unforgetable and magical trip!!! I took hundreds of pics and some video too...because there is so much I am going to share them over the next week or so. Tonight I am posting a few pics from the party that her wish granters threw for her before we left :)